Flight of the BLWJ
by MegaNano
Summary: Begonia Llwyd, a experiment who dons the masks of monsters. Fraxinus Lacquer, a corpse who has long lived past his death. Cinna Wistar, a rat who pilots the wrath of mechs. Jade Kiselina, a fusion of two children who strive for independence. Their reasons to become huntsmen are are not alike, but they still form the Team Blue Jay. Surviving in this world gotten whole lot harder.
1. Grey Trailer

Well, well, well. I have finally done it! I created a story and ended my reign of lurking!

Too bad it's an OC team story, those don't get too much love on this website. Especially in this community.

But anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoy this piece. Everything here is apart of a plan in my head don't worry. May I scare you away with the Jaune/OC? Maybe but hey give me a comment if it's an idea to keep or remove. Give me a comment for anything else as well. Just because I sorely want feedback.

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything RWBY or Roosterteeth. Don't even pretend that I do._

_(AN: 9/28 This is reposted with grammar mistakes fixed to a better standard. If you get update messages, I'm sorry.)_

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Gray Trailer / Begonia Llwyd

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Lazy idiots the lot of them, who in their right mind would serve them. They just stand and stare, blank-faced at food, and for what? To only chew on it endlessly and force it down their own gullet. '_No sense of hygiene, and I have to be stuck between them_' he thought bitterly. The sound of systematic splashes of liquid hitting a large open bucket was the only use for them. The colder dampness of the early spring air was heavily muted by the horrid smell that originated from the foul creature's backside. Well, not the whole reason, but he didn't think that his mother would like getting rid of their only goats just like that. The demon slowly turned its head to face the boy that had stopped milking it,.The boy seemingly deep in thought apparent by the scowl he had on his face. '_Honestly, who wants goats?! Why can't we have chickens, or sheep, or some sort of thing where I don't have to milk it every single day!'_

Breaking out of his inward rage, he noticed that the goat had begun to slowly clog away from him. He looked down at the bucket that still sat on the matted pile of hay. '_Barely anything, but I'm not arguing with the foul demon.'_ A loud sigh escaped his lips, to be honest, it was the easier job than the fields that had to be tended over almost the whole year, but when the animals somehow find a way to get their -engh- leavings everywhere on his clothes. He felt like he needed to complain.

"Oscar!" A grumpish voice called from inside a nearby shed. The farmer boy, Oscar, jumped, hoping that his father didn't see him ignore his milking. The boy's father knew how much Oscar hated it, but it was a job b on the farm to do during the offseason.

"Oscar! Stop milkin' the goats and help me for a sec." It was better to not keep him waiting, Oscar wanted to do no more with the herd of goats anyway. He jumped from his one knee and followed the distinct sound of the notorious battle of Dad versus Tractor. The annual springtime bout had happened since before he was born. Oscar's father never let the old rust bucket win, but he had the worst time keeping in his curses. The shed door was already parted open a tad. '_Half the engine is already on the floor, this doesn't look good...' _Oscar thought.

"Having' problems dad?" Peeking around the corner was Oscar, his matted chestnut hair barely hiding the fear in his light green eyes. It wasn't that his dad was violent or anything, but when he needed reinforcements for the tractor, shivers traveled down the farm boy's spine from the mere thought. The family must be prepared for untamed wrath directed at every circuit and engine. A heavy sigh emitted from under the rusty red tractor.

"The damn spark plugs are fused again..." He pulled out from underneath, red-faced and sweat pooling on his brow. "Every year!"

It was common for them to fail like that, that was the cost of using industrial mix Dust as fuel. We couldn't afford anything higher grade, as prices have risen on everything from wheat seed to ankle socks.

"Do you want me to get..." Oscar trailed off, he knew his dad asked specifically for his help, but you could never be sure that he just wanted someone to rant off too at times. His dad looked up at him, the old man knew how he would get at times.

"Yeah, the box from the northern shed, get some of the green jugs too." He had an apologetic look on his face when he said it, and Oscar couldn't help but smile in return. "If only your gramps were still here, he would have had tamed the tractor." He stuck his head under the tractor again.

It was the first growing season without Gramps, and really it wasn't a surprise. He was in failing health for so long now that he knew he wasn't long for this world. Mom was devastated, but she didn't show it. The family had tried to keep it together for the most part. It would only get easier.

At least he thought it would get easier... but there is no time to think about it now. He had to cross the barren, snow spotted a field of dead stalks. It was a warmer spring day, but it still seemed to freeze at night. The ground felt icy and slick in the morning, but Oscar wore his boots for a reason. He jogged his way to the shed, through the field as the dirt paths that bordered it was too easy to slip on.

Birds that fluttered away from him when the farm boy got close, soon settle back down to the side. Quiet wind swept a new earth smell from the unfreezing pond to the south, like it was releasing it for the first time since fall. Oscar had his hands pumping to the side of him, why he was tiring himself like this he didn't know. It wasn't like the tractor needed to plow the field tomorrow. Slightly breathless from the speedy jog, he bounded off the field into the surrounding barren trees. It made it slightly easier to find the wooden shack that almost was dilapidated enough to fall over. It never did, even if the wood was wet with mold and moisture.

Oscar made it up to the door and unclipped the metal latch to his right. He pulled outward, and the heavy door groaned on its hinges. The door revealed stacks of cardboard boxes barely kept off the ground by shoddy shelves that lined all four sides of the shed.

"Rats got in again. I'll have to set the cat on them sometime." Oscar noted the small dots that littered the floor, another creature's droppings to add to his 'wonderful' collection on the bottom of his shoe. He scanned the boxes, trying to find the one that had a slight stain on its corner. They didn't have labels, but he knew which one held the parts for the tractor by heart. _'Shows how often the tractor breaks down' _Oscar thought bitterly.

"Aha, here we go..." Oscar pulled out one of the heavier boxes halfway so he could peek inside. "I hope we still have a couple." He quickly reached in with one hand and searched near the bottom for the thumb-sized part. The farmer boy pulled it out once he felt it, and he admired his harvest. A small spark plug, that did not have corrosion on its end for once. Now just too fish out five more.

He pulled out another one...four more.

He collected a plug...three more.

A found spark plug was taken from the box...two more.

The fruits of Oscar's labor revealed another one...one more.

"And finally-"

"**CRUNCH**" A bassy crack filled his head, and all he could hear was the thumping of his rapidly beating heart in his ears. He almost let the box fall onto the floor in his panicked state. '_It was just a tree falling over or something. Nothing to g-get worked up abo-'_

"**Hisssssssss...**" Oscar could feel the sound with his hands on the boxes, it verberated so deeply that it froze him solid. The terrible sound that no one alone wants to hear, or people together, or whole villages, or even whole cities. '_It made no sense, why would one of them be here. The whole reason that we lived so far away was that this wouldn't happen. Not so one of them could find another human t-to.'_ Only seconds had passed but he had stood breathless for what he felt was ages. The creature would pass him by, he was too out of the way. He just had to stay low and wait for it to pass.

'_But why did it come here, where was the swath of negative emotions that would draw a monster of that size?_' He tried to think logically, trying to control his ragged breaths. '_Who-'_

'_Mom...'_ The floor slightly shook from a low grumble that wasn't far from the shed. Oscar's mother hadn't come outside for weeks now, she busied herself at home. Taking care of her own mother, who was struggling to keep going after the loss of her husband. Dad was really feeling the loss today as well since he no longer had his father-in-law to help him repair the tractor. Everyone that was at home where spewing off emotion like that in droves. That was where it was going.

Soon after the rumble moved farther away from the farmer boy, he dropped to his knees and crawled to the corner of the shed. In that corner was in the size of a shoebox. It had no rust but it was covered in dust. He quickly fumbled with the combination lock. The latch clanged. It was deafening.

"I have to w-warn them..." Inside, covered in burlap, was a single flare gun and three dust slugs. Two of them were bright flares, and one was an emergency whistler. Those three shots were going to warn them, they were going to allow them to get to the bunker. Maybe even warn others in the area, even attract a local huntsman to slay it entirely. Oscar could feel his handshake as he gripped the metallic red gun. He couldn't be selfish, not now when so much of his family was at stake. The farmer boy steadied his grip with his other hand and loaded the whistler shot. Oscar was going to be the hero. A tired laugh escaped him, he sighed...

'_A hero, at least I could have that much.'_

He slowly made his way to the door, it was slightly ajar but he still couldn't see that clearly outside. The darn snake was probably still slithering its way to his house at this very moment, so he bumped the door open with his shoulder. After taking the first trepid steps on grass again, he quickly scanned around. No black scales insight. He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath.

His hands held the gun up high.

The sight aimed slightly less than straight up, towards the field.

He settled his fingers on the trigger and held his breath as he squeezed.

The flare shot off like a rocket, creating the whistle that was reminiscent of a firework. It would bring no joy on this day. Oscar took no time to watch the red glow of the flare as it screamed across the sky. He quickly ejected the still hot shell and singed his fingers placing one of the regular flares inside. He took one good look around and felt his feet kick into the woods.

The damn beast would follow where the noise went, he hoped. So bounding inside of the forest, around the field, and back to the barn was his best idea. It wasn't bad, and it would've worked for any naive monster.

"**Hiss**..." Too bad it wasn't any naive monster that soon slithered from farther in the forest. Oscar took one quick look to his left and immediately fled towards the field.

'_It waited for me..._' No amount of adrenaline could keep the immediate tears from flowing. The slithering mass of scale behind him kept his burning legs from tripping on different roots and plants on the ground. He took one last leap to hijack it out of the forest and back to the tilled soil of the field. Oscar took one more step and spun himself around, pushing out the flare held loosely to his side. One sight of those devilish crimson eyes and he would fire. One sight of those flaming rays of death. Two sets of blank red eyes.

Wait, two?

Oscar quickly aimed between the sets of eyes, only for the flare to soar past between the two heads of the creature, the pitch-black Snake Grimm itself, a King Taijitu. Each of its heads the size of Oscar's preteen body and covered in a matte-white bone mask that accentuated the longer snout of the reptilian. The two-headed snake's tail was still far in the trees behind it, covered in scales that common pistols or knives would never have a chance to penetrate. The body split to form the two necks. Two necks that made trunks of old trees jealous. A monster was so huge that it furrowed the ground as it slithered.

Oscar took no time to stumble and he tried to book it as he reloaded the red emergency tool with the final flare in his pocket. The boy ran. He needed to get as far as he could away from the Grimm. Oscar tried not to feel the near-death that loomed over his shoulder. One more spin around and he would face the wretched Grimm once again, to fire off his last flare.

'_One final shot to the eyes._'

He took aim at the nearest head, while it began to rise far above him. One more squeeze of the trigger and he would-

"**_SCREECH!_**"

The shot soared way above the nearest head of the Grimm. That sound, that horrific noise, it screamed louder than pounding of his heart in his chest. He didn't take one second to even take a look at where it came from. He sprinted just a leg faster than before, his energy getting a much needed second wind from the sound that haunted children everywhere. The one thing that snatched people instead of just eating or slaughtering them. Oscar knew he was almost certainly a goner. He had never seen so much of as a lowly Grimm Beowolf, not anything close to as deadly as the two elder Grimm that seemed to want his head.

Each step felt weightless as Oscar took labored breaths, each step felt like it could be his last. Soon he heard the telltale sound of swishing wind caused by the wings of a seemingly huge bird. Oscar couldn't risk looking back towards the King Taijitu and the ruthless, black-feathered Nevermore. Oscar took no more than five more steps until he felt a sharp pain against both of his shoulders.

Caught by the ravenous bird of prey, each of its six talons took deep hold into his clothes and skin. The boy found his legs leave the ground in a thrust of bitterly cold wind. Each of the talons felt like someone had stuck ice into his skin as he watched the ground reach farther and farther away. Oscar flailed his arms and legs trying to get free, he knew the fall would at the very least break his legs. Broken legs were, however, the least of his worries. He soon shut his eyes, trying to twist his body in every conceivable motion he knew.

He could only hear the roar of the wind, the roar of the two-headed beast, and the sound of his own screaming. One more twist of his body and he felt a slight slip in the Nevermore's grip.

"Let me g-AHHH!" Oscar soon found himself free-falling, the wind whipping his loose hair against his face. He still hadn't opened his eyes, so he couldn't see the barn roof that broke his fall much faster than he expected. Oscar broke into a tumble, feeling a huge pain in his ankles and knees where he lopsidedly landed. He felt a jump in his stomach when he didn't feel the metal roof against his body. He swung his arms to the nearby edge of the roof, his legs dangling far below. He tried to swing one leg up on the roof, and after a couple of tries, he found almost half his body back to safety. One more pull brought his body's stomach side up onto the slanted roof. Oscar took big gulps of air, one after another, and his whole body felt disjointed and weak. He didn't stop to face the clear blue sky with a trepid smile on his face.

"Oh, dust." He felt the need to curse each time he exhaled. Each time more of the adrenaline subsided and left him more in control of his heartbeat.

"Oh thank the brothers!" He shouted it into the air, "I-I'm a-alive!" He started to sit up but the sight a black quill above his head stopped his celebration. It shot down right into...his collar. Not his collarbone, but the collar of his cheap, off-white button-up. He felt figurative and literal chills down his spine like someone poured snow down his back. His head couldn't move from the roof as he was stuck by the Nevermore spine that penetrated his shirt. He began to look upwards towards the sky again. The only thing in his view was a white Grimm mask. The mask caused him to hold his breath, but he found himself eyeing all the problems with it. It wasn't plain white but had accents of an iridescent blue around the rims and beak. The eyes that were supposed to be a pupil-less crimson red, were shrouded in black, spotted with two wide red slits. Looking from the eyes he felt his confusion when he saw a pair of lips formed into a tight scowl from under where the mask would cover a Nevermore beak. It was surreal, having a monster with such a human face.

"Don't move." The words broke Oscar from his stupor as he felt his adrenaline try to push one final time. He watched the creature waiting for a beat, flex its legs, and propel itself far into the air. Oscar swallowed a lump that lodged in his throat as the feathers of the creature shone with a bright blue. The body of the creature was nothing like any Nevermore, it looked so remarkably human. Arms were interchanged with wings of black feathers, and normal legs were replaced with those of a bird. Feathers had replaced a head of hair, and a tail of quills was coming out of its lower back. The rest of its skin was pale, and the rest was covered in what looked like old clothing.

Oscar craned his neck to watch its path angle back downwards, using gravity to careen towards the ground.

"**Hissssss...**" Or to aim at the right head of the King Taijitu. The Nevermore's dive flipped on itself and forced one leg forward. The resulting crack from the connection of talon and mask echoed through the trees, only to be covered in the resulting roar of pain from both heads of the snake. The head that wasn't hit moved his focus from the house and towards the black and blue blur that damaged it. The left head took no time and rushing towards the retreating form of the Nevermore.

The head opened its wide maw mere meters from where the Nevermore was. Oscar didn't expect the bird to collapse its wings, flip into a freefall, and fire quills into the left head's mouth. It ducked his head and another growl of pain came from the pit of the Taijitu's throat. The snake closed its maw in defiance. The nevermore used it to its advantage and banked to the Grimm's right side and sent a dozen more quills into the side of its mask and mouth. The wounds had no time to release any of the Grimm's black smog as each one bloomed in an ice crystal. Effectively locking the left head's jaw closed.

The first couple of hits the Nevermore dealt dazed both of the heads for only a second before they both roared in rage. The new nuisance was the only thing they wanted to bring to a swift, painful end. Both bodies began to slightly move away from each other. Tracking the Nevermore as it flew a tight circle around them.

The Nevermore took the initiative and fired off a dozen more quills in the point between where the two necks met. The bird dove in between the two heads, readying its talons for the frozen weak spot. The King Taijitu stubbornly ignore the freezing and started to enclose both heads around the incoming blur. The Nevermore felt the almost snagging bite of the right head on one of its legs. The bird quickly slammed one of its wings, quills outward, to the area of its left eye. The quills struck true, and in the resulting chaos the bird kicked its other leg out. The bite was released, but a noticeable splatter of blood came from the wound.

The bird regained its distance again, but the snake soon began a rapid chase. The Taijitu had one taste of blood, but it needed to end it once and for all. The Nevermore took a wide bank around the snake and flung more quills from its wings. More than most struck the ground, but a couple hit the long scaled body of the reptile. Each hit erupted in ice crystals and snow dust.

The left head followed the blur, but instead of using its disabled bite, it swung its head like a bat. The hit sent the Nevermore careening to the ground, resulting in a splattering of wet mud to rocket upwards.

The Nevermore shakily stood upwards from one knee, glaring into seemingly all four eyes of the snake. All of its feathers brightened their blue hue and a rolling, white fog seemed to drip from its form. Its legs bent to launch into the incoming head of the right snakehead. It launched upwards, but not with a flap of its wings. The wings were forwards, and the whole body acted like a frozen arrow across the neck of the right head. Quills were left behind to freeze and crack the black scales.

The Nevermore took back to a powered flight right up behind the head of the left snake. Its talons were open and aimed like a raptor catching a small rat. The talons took an icy grip onto the lip of the King Taijitu's mask. With the jaw frozen, the bird had little to worry as it started to rip and pull away from the mask from its face. The cloud of black smog that covered the King Taijitu's wounds was rushing into the mask. The screech that the Nevermore made was twice as loud as anything the snake made. With a final heave of wings, the mask ripped off the left head's face with a stomach-churning squelch.

The eyes of both heads shut off, the red glow leaving their bodies. Both of them fell limp to the ground as the whole corpse began to dissolve into a black smog. Flakes of ash seemed to rise into the air with an invisible flame. A thud resonated from a small distance away, as both the Nevermore and mask fell to the ground.

Oscar suddenly realized he was still back at the roof, and not within the chaos of monster fights. He wrapped a sleeve around his hand and began to pull the black quill out of the metal roof. Nevermore quills were notoriously sharp, and even with the makeshift glove Oscar still felt a trickle of blood come from his fingers. The farmer boy instead forcibly ripped his collar free and sat up with a pain in his neck. Oscar crawled on his hands and knees, trying to find the ladder that led to the roof.

It took a minute to get all the way down the ladder, as he did it one-handed and shaking with fear. When Oscar felt the matted dirt below his feet once more, he let out an unrestrained sound of relief. His steps were shaky, but he still ignored the slight limp he had in one leg. Oscar broke into a slouched jog towards the cellar door of the barn. The boy knocked on the door with a specific set of repeated triplets. He almost fell backward when the cellar door swung opened with wild abandonment.

"Oscar!"

"H-hey mo-" Oscar's greeting was interrupted by a duo of arms that gave him a bone-crushing hug.

"My baby...Oh, gods!" Oscar felt his mother's long auburn hair tickle his nose as she buried herself in the crook of his neck. Oscar could already feel a splotch of wetness.

"M-mom! I'm fine!" Oscar returned the hug in kind, trying to outdo whatever strength his mother had with his own. He didn't want to let go, and neither did she. All he did was allow another pair of arms wrap around both of them.

"Don't do anything like that again..." His dad's voice came a silent whisper to his ear. "Please don't scare us like that again."

"I-I will try not to..." Oscar trailed off, he didn't really know what he did wrong. The boy knew he would have scared his parents by firing the flare without being within arm's length of the bunker. It was what he had to do to keep them safe.

"I guess this is sort of a wake-up call." An old voice echoed from inside the bunker, but it wasn't as wrought with tears as his mother and father. "Could someone, however, help me get to my grandson?"

His father broke the hug and ran down the steps to assist Grandma up the flight of steps. Each step was slowly taken but Oscar squirmed his way of his mother's grasp to meet his grandmother halfway.

"I don't think your gramps would have liked us to be hunted by Grimm as soon as he kicked the bucket," Grandma said with a slow chuckle as she buried herself into Oscar's hug. Oscar's mother sighed, she couldn't help but feel she was the cause of all of this. Just maybe not directly. She shook her head and slowly a teary smile broke onto her face. She just wasn't going to be who she was. She knew that her mom was right, it was a wake-up call. A call to move on.

"What happened to the Grimm? Did it pass by, son?" His father came first with the questions, the knock was the sign of safety but it could still be interpreted.

"No, it got... killed."

"You paused there, is something the matter?" His father's relaxed face grew tenser. Oscar began to break up the second set of hugs. His eyes widened in realization and began to run back up the steps outside.

"Oscar, what's wrong?!" Oscar didn't really bother to answer, and he soon heard the rapid footfalls of someone running up to him. Oscar's mind, however, was running a million miles a minute, just trying to come up with a description as to what exactly happened. All he did know is that the creature that saved him, hadn't moved from the point where it collapsed. He arrived at the battlefield. Small sprites of ice that developed in the field and the still lingering cloud of ash wafted through the air.

"Oscar!" His father's patience was running very low, "Where are you going!?" Oscar's father saw his son collapse in the wet field, knees first, and he assumed the worst. Oscar was above the body of the Nevermore, but he felt he couldn't call it just a monster anymore. He could now tell just how human this thing actually was. It had the body of a girl just slightly his senior. '_It actually looks more like a-_'

"What kind of Faunus is that?" His father finished his thought as tried to control his breathing from the breakneck sprint. "I swear each generation they get more animal-ly." Oscar also thought in his head that it was a Faunus, a part of humanity that is born with one animal appendages or attributes. They normally have a set of ears, horns, or tail of mammalian descent. But many are born with gills, scales, and even a crustacean based exoskeleton.

"I-I don't think... well maybe it could be?" Oscar felt that was the most logical answer, but the implications of a Faunus wearing a Grimm mask sent shivers down his spine. Oscar started to reach for the young woman's hands until he realized the wings didn't have any.

"Step away from it. No animal who wears a Grimm mask can be good." His father had heard the local rumors, of a new revolutionary organization, turned terrorist sect that disgustingly wore them.

"Dad, she saved me! We need to get her inside!" Oscar bit the bullet and pushed his arms under her surprisingly light body.

"Oscar! No animal like her deserves anything!"

"She's barely breathing! She saved me and then she killed the King Taijitu!"

"Oscar! If it ain't those White Fang, then what else would it be! Some sort of, I don't know, Nevermore Faunus!?" Her body stirred again as Oscar began to lift her up in a bridal carry. Oscar began a slow track back home. His mother froze when she saw her son carry what looked like a person wrapped in a feathered cloak. She held a hand over her slowly gaping mouth when she really didn't know what her son held in his arms.

"Mom, help me get a bed ready." Her son's straight face, unnaturally serious command closed her mouth. She looked towards her husband to get some semblance of what was going on. His father, on the other hand, had his mouth dropped to the floor when he heard his son spout off commands just like his grandfather used to. He wordlessly gave his wife permission by giving her a slow nod.

"Alright, we might have to use the couch, honey."

"That's fine-Hey!" Oscar tripped for a second as his father swooped in and took the girl from him.

"Before you do anythin', fix up your hand then bring the rest for her. Okay, Oscar?" Oscar took one look at his bloodied sleeve and sighed. This would be a day he would remember for the rest of his life.

* * *

To say that Begonia Llwyd was having a bad day would be an understatement. The prey she was saving for a rainy day for her "condition" went and attacked a random farm. Although when she focused, she could feel what the snake was sniffing out. The despair from the one farm was enough to attract any smarter Grimm in the area. That wasn't the worst of her issues, however. The Grimm was at least twice as smart as she thought it was, and at least three times as strong. Begonia would only take and use useful masks of Grimm. The King Taijitu was the perfect age and type of Grimm that would be advantageous. It was bad enough that the snake got a lucky bite on one of her legs. She wasn't going to die from the venom, but the wound would be swollen for at least a week. Begonia was practically kicking herself for not thinking the open weak spot was a trap within itself. She had to waste so many quills, she knew she wasn't going to fly right for at least 24 hours. All she had to do was pick herself up, and shamble her way back into the woods. Maybe snatch a couple of foodstuffs from the farmer's kitchen. She had saved the boy, she did her self-assigned moral deed for it. All the feathered girl had to do was bare her teeth when they got close, and collect a loaf of bread, or hunk of dried meat.

But no, she had to completely knock herself out, have someone drag her inside, and completely bandage her bite and cuts. Who would willingly take someone that looked like her inside their house on purpose? She was a macabre amalgamation of a nevermore and a human. A harpy! She would have never thought anyone would try to heal her while she still wore a mask. It made no sense. Maybe she could calm down if she wasn't so afraid to stop faking her slumber while someone changed one of her bandages for the first time. She could feel its hands, terribly warm against her scaly leg.

_'Just get your hands off!"_

"Oh my goodness, you're awake." Begonia inwardly cursed at herself, she wasn't used to keeping thoughts to only herself. Not enough time spent with others for a long while, besides maybe a couple of small animals.

"Really! Dust, I thought you would never wake up." A younger boy released a huge sigh of relief. He sounded a lot different when he wasn't screaming his lungs out. The masked girl bit the bullet and opened her eyes to get a look at the only people that seemed to take a wholehearted interest in her. Much to her own confusion.

"You don't want to move too much, that king taijitu venom set a mess on your muscles." An older woman knelt over her face, she seemed to stare into her eyes. Begonia could feel the heat from her neck, why did she have to be so close. "You don't look like you have a concussion or anything like that. From what I heard from my son, I would think you would come out a lot worse."

Begonia began to avert her gaze, the woman could have told her that before she dug into her soul with her eyes. The scan of her own situation came up fruitless. She was stuck in a room lit with a roaring metal furnace. The wooden cabin walls were all she could see, so she could only assume that the fur seat she was laying on was blocking her only means of escape. There were windows, but each one was no bigger than her own head. In the corner, however, was a rather angry looking older man and in his hands an older hunting rifle. Of course, she wouldn't have it any other way. The two people's eyes locked on each other, both trying to get a read on what they would do next. Begonia slightly bared her teeth in a growl after so long being locked in a battle of wills. The whole house practically felt the click of the safety turn off.

"Clark! I didn't allow my daughter to marry such a foolish man, so put that gun down this instant!" An even older voice came from the beyond her vision, it was strong-willed comparably to the rest. The masked woman in the back of her mind wanted tensions to escalate, so she could leave without being beholden to them. It was uncomfortable that they were defending her, she was too used to weapons pointed at her.

An awkward silence followed as the rifle safety clicked back on, but it didn't leave the bald man's hands. She never really wanted it to leave his hands anyways. He was the only one that seemed to put off a different emotion from the rest. The correct emotion. It was most likely a fit of anger or wrath, but this mask couldn't really center on what. The others she could more easily figure out, a more instinctual fear. To say that was all they felt would be wrong, but all she could feel was the negative emotions. That meant that they could be feeling elated right now and she couldn't really know. It would be safe to say that they probably were not in the best of moods, however.

Many of them still sat wordlessly as the woman, who Begonia thought was the boy's mother, rewrapped the bandage on her leg. The woman tightly set it and took a long look at the other wounds that she wanted to help.

"The cuts on your... wings. I couldn't get to them because..." She trailed off as it was considered plainly idiotic to get within arm's length of any nevermore feathers.

"It's normal." The voice that replied was quiet and raspy but was great for the first words that escaped her mouth in months. Maybe years that weren't whispers. It wasn't that she got her wings cut on anything, it's just that all the quills came from somewhere. The last move took more quills that she could count. "Quills take a lot out of me."

"I thought nevermore had a stupid amount of those." The gruff man with the gun, which was most likely the self-assigned man of the house, spoke aloud.

"Too human." Maybe her answer was a little self insulting. It would probably be a good thing to be more human. But when just the littlest amount of Grimm got her locked and tortured, she would rather be a much stronger thing that humans feared. She would have tighter control of her own life.

"We have your stuff," the boy spoke up so the silence wouldn't return again, "It's on the table." He wandered over to the end table by the side of the couch and pulled out a satchel and surprisingly the shrunken mask of the left head of the king taijitu, shrunken to fit on a human's face. The boy began to raise the mask up to his face to inspect it.

"Is this what you took-OOF!" The family was not prepared for the feathered girl to practically spring from her spot from the couch and bluntly kick the boy in the stomach. With one foot she stood on top off the boy, red pupils shrunk to small beads. The other talon gripped the Grimm mask that the boy was just holding. She knew the resulting click was from the rifle safety being shut off for the second time.

"Step away from my son, or I will blow your feathered brains out." The fear she could feel increased tenfold, as Begonia's knee jerk reaction was hardly thought out. She paused before bringing the king taijitu mask to her body. She looked down at the boy she had under her talon.

"This mask is nothing you should wear." The boy's slight struggles ceased almost completely and his eyes grew wide.

"W-why?" The boy felt the nevermore step off his body, even if under her full weight was nothing he couldn't handle.

"This isn't a Hallows Eve decoration." The bird held the mask higher with her claw in a feat of flexibility. "If you had put this on, only I would be able to remove it without ending your life. I would not be able to save you before your bones snap and refuse, your teeth deteriorate and be replaced with fangs, your skin morph with a shattering cold to a blistering fire, your hair to fade and be reformed as scales. You would finally feel all the negativity that you surround yourself every day and force it into an uncontrollable rage. That is what you would deal with before I would get the chance to remove it from your head. I can't promise you that I could stop you from doing anything to harm the people you love." Even if her voice was tired and raspy, it caused the whole room to spew an emotion that she could feel because of the mask all too clearly, Despair. The boy nodded dumbly as he sat on the floor. She turned her head to focus on the other three people in the room.

"I will take my leave." Five words were all she said to their jaw dropped faces. If she was able to take care of the boy like that, she was well enough to be on her way again. She took no heed to the gun that still aimed at her head as she walked around the couch to the doorway behind it. The only sound heard was a slight click of claws hitting the wooden floor. She walked past the eldest woman only for her to place a hand on her shoulder. Begonia stood deathly still as the hand lightly rubbed it.

"Thank you."

It wasn't the first time she had heard the words in her life. She was once a child who did chores for others, a common courtesy of the village. She had not heard it however for as long as her life was irreparably changed. _They_ didn't thank her for the masks she ripped off the Grimm. _They _didn't thank her for being compliant with the daily examinations. Maybe Begonia knew she really didn't need those words, but when she heard them for the first time in ages she really didn't know how to respond. She didn't stay long enough in one area for people to realize it was her what thinned out the monsters near their homes. She killed what needed to be killed to sate her own "addiction."

_So what?_ that today she felt morally obligated to do that before swiping the farmers' food. If they hadn't brought her in, she would have broken in to steal things she needed anyway. Why would they thank her for that, thank her for such a stupidly selfish act? The masked girl walked away, breaking the hold the old woman had on her.

She looked in both directions of the hall and saw what looked to be the pantry of the nearby kitchen. Making sure she wasn't followed, especially the guy with the gun, she quickly lifted the pantry door latch with her foot. She didn't take time to deliberate on what to take. She took what looked like the farmers had the most of. Stuff that really didn't have to be cooked. It looked like the last of some game they dried over the winter was the best choice.

The nevermore doubled back with a handful, or rather claw-full, of meat. She could practically feel their stares as she passed the living room again. She didn't need to look at them to figure out what they thought. One more door stood in her way back outside, and the kid stood in front of it.

'_When did he get there?'_ Begonia thought as she stared down the kid who seemed to be blocking her way out. She arched her eyebrows and bared her teeth in a silent attempt to scare the boy off. The boy's sidestepped away. Although he did look like he wanted to say something, Begonia didn't really have to energy to care. Especially when the type of doorknob that kept her in couldn't be opened by her wings or feet. She inwardly snarled before bending a quill on the edge of her wing like a sharp knife. However, the wildest thing happened before she brought down the quill to pry open the door.

The boy reached an arm back, dangerously close to the quill the bird was wielding, and quickly opened the wooden door by the doorknob. The door swung out by its own weight and the boy stood there beside it. He gestured in a way like she was just any person asking to leave. She did something she would never think she would do for a long time. She nodded with a calm look back to the boy.

A silent word of thanks.

As Begonia took one step onto the wooden patio that surrounded the front door, she bent her knees. The blue dust that stored within her mask was activated by a quick burst of her aura. She didn't feel a chill as the ice dust dropped the temperature of the air all the way down to the floor. With a spread of her wings, glowing a bright blue hue, she thrust them down. A contrail of condensed water left in her wake as she took back to the skies higher than when she was fighting the king taijitu. The rushing air allowed a breath of relief to escape her. That was until the harpy noticed how many feathers were actually missing.

'_I guess I'm not going too far today,_' She thought bitterly, '_No looking for the next elder Grimm to stalk._' The flight would have to be short, and resting from anything close to dangerous would be her next goal. Taking off in the direction farthest from any town, she would scan the horizon for a suitable tree and spend the night. Preparing for the next part of her journey to nowhere.

She would have if there wasn't a slight feeling of negative emotions that caught her attention. It wouldn't have been something she noticed normally, but it was the one emotion that the nevermore she got the mask from was quick to find on her. It was the slightest feeling of despair and it was right behind her shoulder. The feeling was quiet and buried, unlike those the farmer family felt before, but it was still present. It wouldn't worry her if she was grounded, but the feeling was in the air with her. It was...

Unsettling.

It took a minute to pinpoint the feeling, especially if she didn't actively search for it. Maybe it was just being paranoid, but she tried to keep the negative emotion on her six still following her. It was 20 meters off her back, at least 2 meters above her. She slowly concentrated a quick quill to fire off in that direction. It would be a simple flip and fire, at least being able to catch a glimpse of it. She would take the initiative, catch whatever it is off guard and be able to gauge the situation.

'_Three...two...one...Fire_'

The harpy tucked its wings and spinning itself to face the negativity. A single feather was flung from its left-wing and it soared like a blue blur.

"Caw!" The thing, no the _crow_, let a distressed call as it beat its wings quickly to narrowly avoid the quill steaming towards it. That was not what Begonia expected from the negative emotions she felt. It wasn't that she couldn't feel animal emotion, many animals felt fear or rage. But despair? What did a bird have to be despairful about?

"Well, go 'caw' yourself too. Weird birds."

Begonia fell back into the rhythm a flap of wings and an unstable glide. The trees didn't go too fast below her, but it was nice to lose herself in the patterns of leaves from this distance. She often had time to think about really anything that came to mind. She found a creek that snaked through the taller deciduous forest. Maybe this was the only good par-

"Caw." Or the best part was having birds land on your back for no reason. Her flight stilted for a second before regaining control. The bird sat in the small of her back, on top of the downier feathers that were less sharp. It at least knew where to land. It wasn't uncommon for animals too not be scared of her, as she probably smelt of Grimm and the monsters didn't attack any animals. This was the first time for a bird to land on her, however. It felt, weirdly nice.

"Caw," it wasn't hard for Begonia to do a quiet caw back to the bird. The two crows, one much more human than the other, didn't move shift away from the other. They both quietly flew above the now rolling hillside.

"Were you feeling lonely too, lost someone? Smart enough to feel despair I guess, but dumb enough to come back to the one who shot at you. Weird bird." The idle conversation was as silent as a whisper but was nothing new. _They _thought to teach her things, well one of them did. She wasn't some bird-brained idiot.

"Maybe you just wanted a free ride, but that tree over there looks pretty inviting. You're welcome to join." She was a lot kinder to things that couldn't really know any better. With the tree by the creekside in her sights, she began a calm descent. Careful to avoid any sticks or branches that hung over the cold spring water. The crow took off her back, she could see land on a branch in the corner of her eye as she produced a splash in the cold water. The ice water didn't bother her while she had the ice dust infused mask on. With a flick of both arms, she tucked her feathers inward. The stones that the snowmelt water washed over felt nice below her feet as she took steps to the tree she eyed before.

"Thanks for the warm welcome kid." The snowmelt water splayed in ice crystals below Begonia feet, all her feathers began to pulse blue as she quickly searched the area around her. Her eyes coming to the same tree she saw the crow land not too long ago.

The man could only be described as scraggly. His greying black hair, scraggly. The patchy 5-o-clock shadow of hair on his chin, scraggly. The half-buttoned, creased light grey shirt, scraggly. The black coat that had a couple of stains, scraggly. The fact that the man already had a silver flask to his mouth, scraggly. The bags under his dead red eyes, scraggly. The giant indiscernible weapon, silver, and grey, strapped to his back... maybe not as scraggly.

"You have quite the aura control for something that looks like Grimm." The worst part was that the only negative emotion she could feel from the guy was once again that deeply rooted despair. Nothing new, but something that was festered with age. He wasn't angry, nervous, or even frightful of her. It was certainly arrogance. Especially when he kept rattling off like some big shot.

"Talk to the birds often?" Everything about him screamed a single profession, a slayer of beasts, a Huntsman. The type of people that wouldn't hesitate to be hired to put her down, or worse, capture her again.

"Silent treatment, eh? I don't mind kid but it's going to be hard to get past the murderous glare you're giving me if we don't talk." He was used to slaying creatures of darkness, he thought of the harpy as just one of them. He would think Begonia would be like any Nevermore. But, she needed strength, something to overpower whatever skill he would have. The strength of another mask. A switch of masks would either confuse him to allow her to take the initiative or he would take advantage of the 3 seconds the girl would be vulnerable. There was no chance she would win with the Nevermore mask, especially if he was the crow from before. No matter how insane that ability would be.

Begonia slowly moved one wing to her face, and the other to the satchel that was strapped around her waist. '_The grey man didn't even notice it, too full his damn idiocy._'

It was only a flash of movement that signified the change. It was two simple steps. Activate her power, pry the mask off. In the next movement, replace the mask as its removed. The new mask would cover her human face until she completely reformed into the other form. She had done it many times before, too keep her real identity safe. Even if everyone knew the bird, the boar, the bear, or even now the snake, they would not know her.

It was the latter half that something went embarrassingly wrong. The wing destined to grab the mask of an Ursa Major, a black bear size of a semi, let it slip from its folded grip. It splashed down into the water. Not before she had the Nevermore mask ripped off her face. Accompanied by the black ash that faded from the wings, feathers, feet that started to swirl in a tight ball around her. The ball of smog fled into the mask dimming the bright blue of the ice dust. The blue accented mask fell quickly into the bed of the creek next to the Ursa mask. Both facing upwards to only mock her. Quickly Begonia took her now human arms and covered her face. She felt a shiver of fear as her waist-length grey hair once again came to fall onto her back and eyes. She was still wearing what was a black, ripped sleeveless tank top and short jeans that were ripped at the mid-thigh. The satchel that was wrapped around the waist was tight, as her previous form was a bit smaller than she was now. Even with a smattering of clothes, she still felt 'naked' for lack of a better term. She had for so long been transformed that it was rare to find herself, well herself.

"Wasn't expecting that when I came out here," He eyed his flask as if it was the one to betray him, "But I wasn't expecting to find anything really." He crouched on the branch to get a better look at the girl. The grey man kept his distance and Begonia noticed through the cracks in her hands and grey hair.

"To be honest when I heard of Grimm stealing food, I was a little skeptic. Rumors of ice Nevermore quills, earth gauged from the ground, and Boarbatusk trails with a smattering of green Dust. All of those frankly scared me. Grimm don't have souls, so they don't got an aura, so they can't activate Dust without being smart enough to use it. But, it makes a lot more sense now. You, kid, have a very -ehh- 'unique' semblance." The man actually took the time to pause do air quotes.

"It's a curse." Only if someone was paying attention would catch the whisper of words from her throat.

"Hey, some people have semblances that people aren't very fond of." He gestured to himself when he said, "It's the power of our souls' kid, it is not always the best aspects of it." The grey man stood there nonchalantly as if this was the most normal conversation in the world. It was starting to piss Begonia off.

"How long have you been following me?" Simple questions, as the grey man really wanted to talk, Begonia would get answers.

"Oh, not long. Just happen to catch sight of red flare at the edge of the-"

"But you were looking for me, who sent you?"

"Jeez kid, you don't beat around the bush. Nah, no one hired me, just doing some scouting for myself. Something, or more actually _you_, was gathering attention from a lot of hunters." Begonia felt her breath hitch.

"T-that isn't possible."

"Really kid, you think that huntsmen are complete idiots? Anyone with half a brain would start to worry about the soulless Grimm that used dust. I'm not going to say I didn't warn ya when a full team of huntsmen is sent out for your neck, as a kid like yourself would probably be dead anyway."

"It's not them I am worried about..."

"What? The ones that are out to capture you? Honestly, if these guys are as threatening as you making them seem, I would think twice about hunting ancient Grimm and making such a scene."

"You don't understand, I need too."

"Huh, a girl with a weird semblance _and_ morals."

"No, I just," the girl leveled her eyes up to the grey man, "I can't stop." She stared down at her hands as they were brought from her. It was the only reason she was on the run in the first place. It happened before she even touched a Grimm.

"What, you can't stop helping people? That's dangerous."

"I can't stop killing them. The Grimm." She was young when she had started training to become one of the people that stood before her, but when they unlocked the power of her soul, her aura, she felt unstoppable. She would hunger for a sort of fight. It was herself that went and found the first Grimm to fight and barely win at only seven. Practically unheard of in even the strongest huntsman, as training and sparring were to prepare for the first all or nothing bout. She discovered that killing that Grimm stopped the restless nights, the anger, and the raw hunger. It was a curse she felt for almost all her life.

"Vindictive much?" the grey man shrugged his shoulders, "Grimm kill your family or something kid?"

"Yes."

"Wow, you are," he took a quick swig, "pretty spec-"

"It's not why I can't stop. Nothing you could do will stop me." The grey man scratched his chin in fake thought, as Begonia knew this man was too dumb to actually think about letting her go. The fight was going to start any second now, he would start strong first before the girl brought a mask to her face. Sooner or later, Begonia's satchel of the other two masks would gain an advantage. She would escape thanks to his arrogance most likely. '_It was just a matter of beating it into-_'

"You wanna help me, kid?"

"W-what?"

"Come on, pick up those masks and get flying! We have a lot of ground to cover if we want to get to town."

"Are you i-insane!? You don't control me!"

"Kid, listen to me, you," he lazily gestured to me with his flask, "are not safe doing this by yourself. People are already suspicious, and all it takes is one good piece of evidence to bring the whole of Vale on you. I, on the other hand, can do this." He pulled out a small device of two parallel sticks from his breast pocket. The aptly named Scroll was flicked open and the blue film of light appeared between the two sticks. He tapped on it and in just a few seconds, a dial tone emanated from it. The unmasked girl broke into a sprint, each stomp through the snowmelt sent splashes into the air. The girl was now masked in horror, the one thing she had to keep from happening. The one thing! Everything in her life was just going to be ruined by the bird-brained idiot's call. Did he purposefully act so confusing just to make her not do anything?

"Heya Oz... Yeah, I'm on the thing... not that thing... the rumor Oz... the one with the dust Grimm... yeah... uh-huh... sure I took care of it. No need to worry your big head about it... It was interesting, to say the least, but I'll give you the low down later... sure I can look into that too... yeah I know I can handle it... right... hmmm... get to you later Oz." He shut the Scroll with a snap and looked smugly at the girl who was currently trying to climb the tree.

"You happy now kid? Now the most powerful man I know thinks a Grimm just got eliminated. Now get your masks and we are heading out of here. I got other crap to do today and you could be of some help. At least, if you can handle it." Begonia held a blank face, everything was going terribly. Just who was he? This guy was nothing like the others she had faced before. Well, there weren't any others, as she thought she did quite well at hiding. Now the first one to get to her wanted her help with... something?

"Stop gawking and let's go, we have a village to defend."

"Just, who-who are you?" The man jumped from the tree and landed mere feet from Begonia, lips tightening into a smug smile.

"Call me Qrow, 'birdbrain', we have many things to do." The newly named Qrow walked away, back turned to the short-circuiting mask wearer. She stumbled over her own thoughts as she tried to comprehend the last fifteen minutes. She tried to sputter out the only thing that seemed to be constantly in her head.

"_Birdbrain!?_"

* * *

*Llwyd is pronounced like 'Lloyd'


	2. Birch Trailer

I'm gonna post another chapter in the same day to be relatively safe. As one chapter stories don't usually get much feedback. But that's a personal fear of mind so, whatever.

This is, of course, the second chapter in the four trailers for each character. If you notice a pattern already, good for you! I made it like that to more entwine different OC's in the actual world than just layering them on.

Throughout this whole story, I am trying to put some thought into how character development and their motives. How each one could connect with others and those within the team but that for a future chapter.

_Disclaimer: __I ain't got the ownership of RWBY and Roosterteeth, ya idiots. So don't take my stuff down._

I actually don't know what would happen if I didn't put that disclaimer there.

**_BANG BANG BANG _**_FBI OPEN_ UP!

(AN: 9/28 This is being Reposted with many small Grammar changes. And I have the Third Trailer almost done as well! I feel very sorry for those getting story update alerts. )

* * *

Hai 'Junior' Xing ran a business. A very lucrative business. A privately-owned business. A dangerous business. A very legal business, he did pay his taxes as was told to many who thought otherwise.

He was the 'boss' to the people he hired. Custodians, bartenders, bouncers, cooks, DJs, and just hired hands were all supposed to call him 'Boss'. Junior was, in fact, the boss so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He did most of the books, he had contacts with most VIPs, and he could bring the beat down on anyone that tried to go against that.

He was 'Junior' to the patrons and clubbers. He was behind the counter most nights. It wasn't the type of place to get a quiet, social drink, but he tried his best to be serviceable. Many think of him as the big guy who wore a black vest and blood-red tie that served pretty good drinks. To some others, he was a viable contact and informant. He knew people, and if you were willing to pay, you could get to know these people.

But there are only a few that call him someone else. If you were to call Junior that and were not one of them, the chances of surviving afterward were slim to none. He would most likely blow you to next week with a rocket-propelled grenade or his fists, whatever was on hand. (Hint, you would rather want it to be explosive.) The one name that shouldn't ever be uttered from anyone that worked or works with him. The forbidden words.

"HEI HEI!" Junior shut his eyes in frustration, those girls knew when he didn't want to be bothered. He took both hands and brought it up to his face and scratched his beard, his white dress shirt was freshly ironed, and a red necktie lay across the desk in front of him. He was in his office, one of the only places in the club where he could escape from the idiocy that his subordinates developed. Now, he was trying to get the last of the checks sent to distributors for the next month. It was only the 4th, but he liked to get it done early.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Hei Hei, come on! You remember what you promised us!" The voice was edging on teenage whining, they were older than that for crying out loud!

"Yeah! Hei Hei, don't make us barge in there again!" The nearly identical voice echoed it, both were seemingly more childlike than the last. Both twins were probably outside that door now, and it wasn't an empty threat.

"Yeah... Don't get your heads in a twist." Junior got up from his rolling office chair and picked up his tie. He wrapped it around his neck as he unlocked and opened the black soundproof door. He didn't flinch when one feminine hand came up to his forehead and flick it. He knew that reacting to it caused more problems than it solved. Stood in the hallway in front of him were two girls, almost the exact face, height, body type, and arrogant attitude. Where both in their early twenties but acted like spoiled teenagers. Both normally wore the same style of glittery dress, the colors of which were different for each. Miltia always wore the black with blue, and Melanie always wore the white with red. Honestly, it was rather shallow to only separate based on that. So Junior usually just determined it based on how they annoyed you. Miltia would trip or kick and Melanie would flick or punch.

"Yes, Melanie?" Junior was currently faced with the sister with the huge dark blue sweater, obviously, they still haven't started to prepare for tonight.

"Dust, we can't fool you can we. That, literally, is the worst." They often switched clothes to mess with anyone who didn't know any better, and most of the people who called Junior "Boss", didn't know any better.

"Well, it's easy enough to tell which is which. And no, I ain't gonna tell you." He continued when he saw both girls started to ask. He wasn't going to give it away, then they would really have a chance to spout off at him. It was one of the few things that would stay a mystery.

"If you're about done acting all, like, stupidly secretive. Did you get what we wanted, huh?" Miltia with the blood-red sweater came up to Junior's face, obviously trying to get a rise out of him. Junior stood blank-faced, no reason to give them the satisfaction. He straightened and finished his tie and pulled out his Scroll. He almost got to his messages when Miltia snatched it out of his hand.

"You aren't getting this until you hand over what's ours," they both spoke in unison. Honestly, how cliché can these girls get? Junior didn't sigh nor frown, he kept wearing his "business face" as the girls called it. He wasn't going to admit that he may have subconsciously called it that as well.

"I'm not going to give them until both of you wear at least something presentable. I don't force you to wear uniforms, but seriously."

"Well, we were going to get ready sooner or later Hei Hei. You caught us at a bad time." Melanie forced a hurt expression and tried to act timid. Keyword 'tried'. Miltia nodded in agreement, somehow acting as innocent as she could. Junior was sure that anyone who fell for the act was idiotic enough to deserve what they were doing. Junior made of show of looking at his wristwatch.

"Half-past nine, that makes it... three hours past the opening."

"Yeah-" "-so?" Now they had to finish each other's sentences, Junior shook his head exasperatedly.

"Yeah, so," Junior copied their antics, "you haven't been ready for the last three hours."

"That ain't our fault, your damn "goons" were ogling us so that we couldn't change. We were worried about some perv barging through the bathroom door." Miltia poked accusingly at him like she was stating a cold fact.

"I would be worried about their physical and mental health if they did such a thing. You say you can't handle yourselves?"

"Well duh, we can. They would get a peek before we gouged their eyes out though." Melanie twisted her finger in a corkscrew motion when she said the last sentence.

"Right." Junior left the conversation hanging as he knew he hired the duo for their ferocity. Sometimes, however, he would like to take his past self and smash his teeth in for such a choice. He slightly pushed in between them and confidently strolled past the doorway.

"Ey, Boss."

"Aaron." Junior response was clipped and professional, the two who followed him, however...

"A-aron!" "Finally shaved the trash goatee!" "Nice to get rid of your 2nd worst feature!" "Lose the rest of your face and you will be just perfect" "Now I only have to be half-drunk." "Or no longer blindfolded."

Were not. Why did the two strongest people he had on hand be the two worst? Father always said strength really went to people's heads, he thought. In the back hallways, the drumming of bass could be felt and heard from the main club floor. Many others doing their own jobs ran back and forth between the main floor and wherever else. He was making his way to the lockers in the basement, usually locked with a keycode only he knew. Even if he was sure that the girls both knew it much to his chagrin.

"Oh, are we going to use the code 406173233104?"

"You idiot, it's 406173233204."

Maybe they didn't know the key code, that was good to know. Junior had no idea where they got the other seven numbers. He stepped up to the pad and typed in the actual code, he gestured them inside. He wasn't worried about them messing with the weapons that they didn't use. The reason was, and they have specifically said, 'If anyone catches us use anything that was touched by any of you masturbates, you can literally shoot us in the knee.' It saved Junior a couple of headaches at least. Created more problems when the guy came to rework them, however. 'Unsuitable workplace, ugh.'

"The reforged blades should be in the lockers, I didn't touch them after they got them delivered so they're all yours."

"Nice of you to do something smart for once, Hei Hei." Melanie wore a wicked smile across her face.

"Yeah, they're great investments Hei Hei." Miltia wore almost the exact same smile. "It was time for you to notice how much we do around here."

Junior sighed and turned his body around, he wasn't going to start an argument like that right next to the weapon lockers. They weren't the smartest people around, but they knew their own weapons well enough. He was just about to return to his interrupted duties when another man came to him calling.

"Boss. Some blonde wants to see you. She won't take no for an answer."

"That's great... Let's hope we can work this out, right Midori?" The bartender nodded and started to lead Junior back to the main floor. It wasn't out of the ordinary for someone to ask for him. It rather did piss him off when this chick obviously didn't arrange anything. Simple enough to put her back on the street, however.

"She's at the main bar, you'll know who." Midori knew the 'Boss' did this a lot, he also knew that this could get ugly real fast. He knew that he really didn't want to be caught in some crossfire.

"It's early in the night, no one's that much of an idiot to try something." Junior read the bartender's mind when he saw him stay in the back. 'At least anyone stupid enough to try anything probably needs to get a few screws pounded back in anyways'

Junior opened up the heavy swinging door to the main floor of the club. The music was of course, loud and bassy. The modern stylings of the glass pillars and bar really set the mood he was looking for. Efficient, yet with a show of wealth that would keep drunks from urinating on everything. The dance floor itself was busy, and the booths lining the sides were only half full. The upper floor was dotted by a couple of patrons admiring a club light show run by the masked DJ that came on Fridays. The red lights flickered with the music and the glass reflected it almost spectacularly. If it wasn't obvious before, Junior was very proud of his club. The bar itself had only a couple of faces sitting at it, no one that he really knew-

"Hei Hei!"

Junior felt himself double-take at the dead faced, green-eyed man who knew to call him as that name. He was remarkably younger than he last saw him. His ash-blonde hair that was once professionally combed and finished, was now greasy and matted. The tan suit jacket he wore was loose and wrinkled, The white button-up was stained with brown splotches of dried blood, halfway unbuttoned down his chest. The light grass green tie he wore was dangling precariously from his neck. The only thing that had improved was his face, which was clean and young. He was remarkably good looking for someone who was supposed to be- "Look at who's back! Ay! Hei Hei!"

Dead.

"You asked for me?" Junior felt a vein bulge on his forehead. Of all the arrogant imbeciles to set foot in his club.

"Nah, Just came for a drink. Felt like I needed to see a friendly face for once! Spent too long with that senile coroner Michael, but he's so nice that I couldn't leave" Junior knuckles turned white, absolute gull he had to pull to call him a 'friend'. So many things that needed to be said rushed through the boss's head. The absolute nerve.

"You're not leaving without paying your tab," Junior said offhandedly. He had a broad to meet with, even if the chick was probably going to leave with a gun to her head.

"So, Hei Hei. I heard that you know some things in that noggin of yours." There she was right now, and of course, she heard the dead man say that name. He's already back and it's already causing Junior a headache.

"What do you want Blondie?" Junior turned to face the... teenager. This chick was the one who needed him, a blonde teenage bimbo. Dressed in a bomber jacket, an exposed midriff, and some sort of short shorts. The whole theme was meant to be bright and showy with oranges and yellows. 'I thought the twins were bad... Well, they're probably still worse.'

"I'm going to ignore that 'blondie' name-" Junior scoffed "-but I think you could help me with something. I have someone to find." She fished a photo, from dust forbid, her chest. 'Lady, You have 4 pockets on that jacket...' Junior was simply passed the photo.

"You don't do this often, do ya kid." Junior held the photo loosely in his hand. "Everything about this is wrong."

"What'cha mean?" Blondie stood arrogantly, adorned with a true smile. Just what kind of idiot did they send him?

"Where's the cash? All you gave me is some photo and asked me for information on what," Junior took a glance at the photo, "some bird ninja?"

"Raven, Raven Branwen. That's her name."

"Alright." Junior's response was clipped, with his 'business face'. He knew what the chick wanted, but he wasn't going to work for anything. The two of them silently waited for a response.

"So... you know anything." Junior promptly threw the photo back to the broad. He turned around. He snapped twice with his left hand and simply started to walk away. Nothing about this situation was going right. This chick was just embarrassing herself. Soon Darryll and Argent came up to behind her. Both of them had there handguns and axes in their holsters. Darryll was always known to nick a finger or five before letting them go. An escort out of his club, and a scare to keep the girl away for good. Simple and easy.

"Wait! B-Blondie! I can work with this."

Or it could get a lot more difficult.

* * *

To say that Fraxinus Lacquer was having a wonderful day would be an understatement. The drinks were cold, the patrons were no one from his past, and a fun chat with Junior could always raise his spirits. Now, however, there was a cute, lavender-eyed blonde that he could help. The first month back and he already got into the swing of things.

"Fraxinus Lacquer, Private Eye extraordinaire, at-at your shervice." '_Come on! I could say extraordinaire but not service?'_ The raggedy man slowly got up from his barstool and took steps that made toddlers look like experts. This was what he was good at, Junior used to come to him for this sort of thing. If he could figure something out, he could pay off his tab with whatever the blonde could give him. A win-win! "I happen to be someone with stuff in this," Fraxinus tapped his head, "'noggin' of mine."

"How did you get a drink from the bar, they wouldn't give me anything."

"Hey, unlike you, I am perfect," took a second to pull out his wallet, "legal." Fraxinus showcased his driver's license to the teen. He waved it around like some bait on a stick. '_Suck on -'_

"You are not 87."

"Of course I'm 87! I jusht went through a late growth Blondie. Now let me look at that photo of the bird ninja!" The two "goons" Hei Hei had on her were scowling now, obviously with their trigger happy fingers ready to pull. Fraxinus rolled his eyes at them, "I got this 'youngins', go and mess with the twins or something." Their faces exchanged knowing looks, anyone who knew the twins like that had some connection. They both took trepid steps backward and left Fraxinus to deal with his new lady friend. As they should, they must have not recognized "Mr. Lacquer" looking so young at the moment.

"Right, and why should I trust a drunk like you?" She gestured with her hand with a small smirk.

"Because," the P.I, reached over and snagged the photo from her hand while ignoring the indignant '_Hey_', "I have been around way longer than you have." He brought the photo up to his face, half wondering why it was so blurry. It was a picture of some ninja of some sort. Real edgy look, the kind kids nowadays usually went through when they were middle schoolers. Mask adorned with feathers with blood-red eyes, with the whole black raider outfit going on. A sheathed sword could be seen on her hip. Well, Fraxinus was sure it was a chick with the long black hair and chest. Honestly looking at the chicks hair and the blonde in front of him, he could draw on some connections.

"You give that back!" The blonde stopped playing around, the scowl she wore could make Junior's goons second guess the lady's meekness. Luckily, Fraxinus was way too focused on the blonde's hair to notice.

"Do you dye your hair for this picture? Unless. Wait one second," Fraxinus held the up the photo against his view of the blonde. Something about the two was catching his eye. Now with her irises a literal raging red, matching the bird ninja's eyes. "You have a sister?"

"If you don't let go of the photo, there will be a fist where your left ball should be."

"Aunt?" She flexed her arms making a... shotgun sound. Wait no, it was the gauntlets that were on her arms. '_Where did they come from?'_ She raised one so the barrel was aimed at the P.I.'s face.

"Hand it over."

"No wait, it's your mother. Oh, that makes a whole lot more sense. Who did you say her name was again?" Fraxinus took another look at the photo, it promptly fell out of his hands. '_Stupid small pictures...'_ He bent down to grab it and felt a rush of air above his head. "Air, wind, flight, bird..._ Raven!_" the private eye stood straight up again, "You said her name was Raven Branwen!" He smiled giving himself a figurative pat on the back. He still got-

**_WHAM!_**

Fraxinus didn't feel the force at first, all he did sense was the floor being a couple feet closer to the back of his head. His nose felt numb, his eyes were instinctively closed, and his hands fumbling to get any grip on the bar stool or the incoming floor. The pain came last, of course, he has 'kicked the bucket' more than enough times to mostly ignore it. The odd part was that it actually caused a noticeable pain. This woman could have and certainly did snap his neck by only giving his face a knuckle sandwich. Luckily, the head stayed on, and Fraxinus hadn't really had a chance to see if he would come back from a beheading just yet. When the back of his body fell flat to the floor, he audibly had the wind knocked out of him. '_Never needed the air anyway._' Feeling his fluctuating soul snap his neck back into its place made him smile in relief. _'Aura, the world's best band-aid._'

"Stupid drunk." The yellow lady announced. A chorus of yells and shouts from Junior's men surrounded the two. "That goes to the rest of you too." Fraxinus couldn't see what was happening since he had reflexively placed his arms over his obliterated face. He could hear however the words that drove the place into complete madness.

"Get the chick!"

* * *

The strength that came from the teenager's punches originated from a power called Aura. The power of your soul. It acted as an empowering force that could allow feats of strength no civilian could ever meet. This aura also acted as a personal shield and could heal cuts, bruises, and broken bones. It was the power of grimm killing Huntsman, but it wasn't exactly exclusive to them. In fact, many of the boneheads that Yang Xiao-Long took and slammed a fist into had that power. It didn't mean that they were any good at using it however.

"This is going to be fun." It was obvious from observers that the blond brawler had a much tighter grasp on her power than anyone that came at her with their axes and handguns. The next goon took a wild swipe at her back thigh expecting for the blonde to be distracted by the one she was currently turning it's nose inside out. In reality however, she fired the gauntlet, the shotgun blast doing two things. Finally shattering the one goon's aura, and propelling a recoil assisted elbow in the axe wielder's arm. The aura and his bones systematically shattered in a flash yellow and grey.

The next time a goon swung was way above her head, she didn't need to crouch so low but... _**CRACK**_**... **the resulting uppercut that swung his head back and make the teeth clatter, was oh so satisfying. The next boy came to beat her at her own game, as he flung one fist at her face that was inevitably blocked by a raised golden gauntlet. The man didn't let up trying to take advantage of her now more exposed stomach. The blonde smirked before she fired two consecutive fists to his face instead. He fell back into another and both collapsed onto the ground.

The girl couldn't watch them untangle she heard a rhythmic sound of gunshots from across the club. One of the shots got lucky and hit her side. A flare of yellow aura rebounded the bullet to the glass bar behind her. He wasn't safe from even all the way over there. Especially when she could easily cross the distance with a dual firing of her gauntlets aimed behind her. These shotgun shells were especially made to have as much power as you could pack in them. They were made to ruin grimm hide. The power also allowed aerial acrobatics feats that most _certainly_ within the physics of Remnant.

The amount of power that was transferred fully launched the gunman through the glass separators of the club. Many of the customers who were still inside, even the ones under the influence of way too much alcohol had begun the mass exodus. Each goon that came with a potshot or a swing of the axe each met their own demise. Almost all of them where either out cold on the ground or didn't want to risk another broken limb. Yang couldn't help but smile, she was the top of her class for a reason. These idiots never had fought anyone who could over power an Ursa if they felt like it. It was a little sad, but honestly the first dude had it coming. '_Never got her information, have to figure something out later..._'

"Who's this Melanie?"

"I don't know, Miltia, but she had to knock the necrophiliac out cold."

"I kinda liked him."

"You just liked that you could stab him and he wouldn't care."

"Eh, at least I have Blondie - hey, why are you laughing!?" Yang was doubled over, both arms on her stomach. '_Dust! Twins?'_

"Oh brothers! Which one of you is the _evil_ one, bwahahaha!" Both of twins had an air or arrogance but she knew that they were already pissed off. Yang knew how she was like, people who could take a joke gained a point in her book.

"Obviously me." The one in red said, pointing to herself with a pair of claws strapped to her arm. '_Well they got the point._' "Miltia can't go somewhere without leaving a tip." '_She is evil._'

"Well, are we going to ruin each others day?" Yang reloaded the twin shotgun gauntlets, making sure that her positioning was square.

"Right, but first things first Blondie. TREVOR!" The blue one lifted a leg and released a blade hidden in the heel. She pointed the blade at the DJ cowering behind his gear. "You better play something good! None of that pointless trap remixes you do."

"R-right! I got one by-"

"Just play it!" Both of the twins shouted in unison. The music and lights immediately glowed a bright red. The music was on and the mood was set. Yang could give so many points, next she'll have to see if they understand the comedy genius that are puns. The twins came back to focus on her, the spotlights in the room seemingly follow the three of them.

"Now, it's time to make you two feel the beat."

"Did you really-" "-just say that?" The two twins readied their twin claws and bladed heels.

"Everyone's a critic..." The tempo had finally dropped, and the real fight had just strength that came from the teenager's punches originated from a power called Aura. The power of your soul. It acted as an empowering force that could allow feats of strength no civilian could ever meet. This aura also acted as a personal shield and could heal cuts, bruises, and broken bones. It was the power of Grimm killing Huntsman, but it wasn't exactly exclusive to them. In fact, many of the boneheads that Yang Xiao-Long took and slammed a fist into had that power. It didn't mean that they were any good at using it, however.

"This is going to be fun." It was obvious from observers that the blond brawler had a much tighter grasp on her power than anyone that came at her with their axes and handguns. The next goon took a wild swipe at her back thigh expecting the blonde to be distracted by the one she was currently turning its nose inside out. In reality, however, she fired the gauntlet, the shotgun blast doing two things. Finally shattering the one goon's aura, and propelling a recoil assisted elbow in the ax wielder's arm. The aura and his bones systematically shattered in a flash yellow and grey.

The next time a goon swung was way above her head, she didn't need to crouch so low but... CRACK... the resulting uppercut that swung his head back and makes the teeth clatter, was oh so satisfying. The next boy came to beat her at her own game, as he flung one fist at her face that was inevitably blocked by a raised golden gauntlet. The man didn't let up trying to take advantage of her now more exposed stomach. The blonde smirked before she fired two consecutive fists to his face instead. He fell back into another and both collapsed onto the ground.

The girl couldn't watch them untangle she heard a rhythmic sound of gunshots from across the club. One of the shots got lucky and hit her side. A flare of yellow aura rebounded the bullet to the glass bar behind her. He wasn't safe from even all the way over there. Especially when she could easily cross the distance with a dual firing of her gauntlets aimed behind her. These shotgun shells were specially made to have as much power as you could pack in them. They were made to ruin Grimm hide. The power also allowed aerial acrobatics feats that most certainly within the physics of Remnant.

The amount of power that was transferred fully launched the gunman through the glass separators of the club. Many of the customers who were still inside, even the ones under the influence of way too much alcohol had begun the mass exodus. Each goon that came with a potshot or a swing of the ax each met their own demise. Almost all of them were either out cold on the ground or didn't want to risk another broken limb. Yang couldn't help but smile, she was the top of her class for a reason. These idiots never had fought anyone who could overpower an Ursa if they felt like it. It was a little sad, but honestly, the first dude had it coming. 'Never got her information, have to figure something out later...'

"Who's this Melanie?"

"I don't know, Miltia, but she had to knock the necrophiliac out cold."

"I kinda liked him."

"You just liked that you could stab him and he wouldn't care."

"Eh, at least I have Blondie - hey, why are you laughing!?" Yang was doubled over, both arms on her stomach. 'Dust! Twins?'

"Oh, brothers! Which one of you is the evil one, bwahaha!" Both twins had an air of arrogance but she knew that they were already pissed off. Yang knew how she was like, people who could take a joke gained a point in her book.

"Obviously me." The one in red said, pointing to herself with a pair of claws strapped to her arm. 'Well, they got the point.' "Miltia can't go somewhere without leaving a tip." 'She is evil.'

"Well, are we going to ruin each other day?" Yang reloaded the twin shotgun gauntlets, making sure that her positioning was square.

"Right, but first things first Blondie. TREVOR!" The blue one lifted a leg and released a blade hidden in the heel. She pointed the blade at the DJ cowering behind his gear. "You better play something good! None of that pointless trap remixes you do."

"R-right! I got one by-"

"Just play it!" Both of the twins shouted in unison. The music and lights immediately glowed a bright red. The music was on and the mood was set. Yang could give so many points, next she'll have to see if they understand the comedy genius that is puns. The twins came back to focus on her, the spotlights in the room seemingly follow the three of them.

"Now, it's time to make you two feel the beat."

"Did you really-" "-just say that?" The two twins readied their twin claws and bladed heels.

"Everyone's a critic..." The tempo had finally dropped, and the real fight had just begun.

* * *

'_Ah, that's what it feels like to lose feeling in your body for a moment. A very unique experience. Very sobering._' In fact, Frax was feeling a lot soberer than he was before. His aura, or more specifically, his Necrosis semblance was doing its work. Supplying energy for anaerobic action of his cells or something. It's been a while since he was at the surgeon's, he doesn't remember what that Atlas medical specialist said. Most of the energy came from the shielding aspect of aura. That was useless anyways when all the swords, spikes, bullets, claws, and teeth didn't do anything life-threatening. He had the added bonus attributes of never breathing, never having his heartbeat, having unlimited stamina, and being a hundred and sixty-four years old since his birthday last week.

"FRAX! I know you ain't dead. Get up!"

His birthday wasn't too special, as he was stuck in the morgue lifeless from a not too happy lead. Some guy named Roman Candle-Candlewick? Torchstick? I can't remember since he thought a slug to the head would do something to end the PI's life for good. All it did was make him forget the names of people he had investigated in the past 20 years. '_What a pain in my-'_

"Frax, get up you senile old man!"

"I a-ain't senile..." Now Hei Hei forced him to take a breath, but he wasn't going to take that insult laying down. He was laying down, but that was beside the point.

"What did you say to her? Dust Frax, what did you do!?"

"I didn't do anything. A decade ago you would've probably assaulted the poor lady." Junior was quite the creep when he first made his life away from his idiot father. Fraxinus took Hei Hei and made him ever so slightly better. Hei Hei wasn't ever grateful for that, however.

"That 'lady' has completely wrecked half of my club, knocked out half of my men, and is going to send both of the twins to their graves! I am absolutely positive they won't start moving on the autopsy table as you do!"

"...They're not winning?"

"The chick is insane!" Junior was red-faced and hyperventilating, he soon brought his face down and mumbled into his hands, "I have half the mind to bring out my dust damn RPG if this goes on for much longer."

"The twins are losing..." Fraxinus felt a weight lodge in his throat. Those twins were always so in sync, so skilled, but this one chick was already beating them this way from Saturday. The private eye couldn't beat both of them without having three stabs from a blade and a lost finger. Any normal person would be dead from what they could do. Just who was she?

"Frax! Don't go freaking out!" Hei Hei himself was severely freaking out, "You just need to get her out of here!"

"Miltia... she was going to do it with me tonight..."

"I-I'm going to ignore that-

"Melanie was supposed to join in..."

"Frax!"

"They were going to use Vivente Vite to tie me up."

"Well, they aren't going to if you don't go downstairs and get that stupid weapon of yours and save them! Putting aside the fact you were going to get busy with them, they need you." Junior grabbed both of Fraxinus' shoulders. He shook them until the eyeing pervert -er- private eye stopped his muttering. Fraxinus heard a single grunt of pain from behind the bar wall, the worrying part was he didn't hear the other twin call out. That meant only one of them was still left standing. The P.I. shook his head vigorously, feeling the last of the bones in his neck snap in place. Slowly getting up, he made sure that he didn't catch the attention of the blonde club wrecker on the other side. One more rapid blink of his eyes flushed the rest of the grogginess out of his system.

"Alright, Hei Hei-" Junior groaned audibly "-I'll gets it done." Junior watched him reach for the door to the back halls, but something crossed the club owner's mind.

"Don't you need the locker room password?"

"You mean '12345'? Junior, remember when I told you to have better security? Please take up on my offer." Fraxinus smiled one last time, before raising his finger in realization. "You will distract her right?"

"If you don't make it here in time, you're cleaning up her splatter on the wall."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your head in a twist."

The quick walk through the inner hall in the club didn't stop the inner joy Fraxinus was feeling. Wait, you thought that he would nervous, devastated, despairful even? This was a great opportunity! Frax could get back into Hei Hei's good ole' circle of VIPs. The circle of crime that allowed him to be such a great investigator. Was Fraxinus worried about the Malachite twins? Of course, he kinda was, but he knew Junior was overreacting. They were like the daughters he never had, of course, he would be so sweetly worried about them. All Frax had to do was to get to the lockers downstairs and unlock the-

When he reached the door, it was already ajar slightly. The "goons" never forgot to close it. Of course, when he was gone for a month they already began to slack. He didn't run the place but Frax taught them a thing or two about having secure weapons. Frax shook his head exasperatedly, he would close and lock it after he got out his weapons.

Frax was proud of the duel vambraces that covered his forearms. A dark grass green, embossed with golden whisps. Accented with authentic mahogany that edged the already tough polished metal. They both held an extreme length of wire, that would automatically cut and attach to hooks and harpoons. It was a very versatile weapon, and he was glad that the twins took the time to reroll the seven-inch spools. They knew Frax wasn't gone for good at least. Unless they were planning to use Vivente Vite themselves. That... made a lot more sense.

Frax returned to the main drag with his vambraces armed and ready. Filled with powerful electric dust, especially used to power the motors and magnets inside the device. It could also do one other effective way of knocking out an enemy, but that was a surprise for Blondie on the main dance floor.

"Compensating for something, ey' Junior?" It took only a second to realize what the blonde was talking about.

"You have the nerve to say that while all you do is spout off innuendos and terrible puns!" Hei Hei was now ready to blow the head off this chick, the RPG on his shoulder was armed with a dust missile of epic proportions. He could miss and still completely shatter the chick's aura, the twins' aura, his knocked-out men, and himself. It was a terrible bluff, but Junior went buck wild back when Frax finally got rid of his old man. That could mean anything was possible at the moment. Luckily the standoff had the fiery boxer looking away from the PI and facing towards the wreck of a DJ stage where Junior stood with shaking legs. He did distract her, and Fraxinus was totally going to use it.

"Hey, I'm just a girl who knows her humor."

"Yeah, I'm so dustdamn glad that you think that! So am I going to use this or are you going to get out of here and never come here again?"

"I don't know _Hei Hei_\- What the?" The launch of the harpoon was only sounded by the slight noise of a reel unspinning, puncturing her left gauntlet. She raised it up in confusion before following the line back to the shabbily dressed man who fired it. Her eyes quickly lit up, a wicked smile coming across her face.

"She might be a little tied up right now." Frax was internally quite proud of his quip, he was sure he had used it before, but that had to be several years ago now. The blonde tried to hold a smirk without breaking into a fit of laughter. The laughter soon died when another whir of gears attached the wire to the floor, followed by another puncturing her right gauntlet.

She began to struggle against the hooks that attached her arms to the ground. For a sudden moment, she felt them pull taught, and soon she was struggling to keep herself from taking a knee from arms being pulled downwards. Another different type of hook stuck into her aura on her back, then another to her thigh, then one final one to her foot. Her smirk was dead as she ground her teeth in frustration. Each one of the hooks attached to her directly didn't penetrate her skin, but they gripped to her aura like sticky glue. Each one of the wires where self-pulling taunt and dragging her to the floor.

Fraxinus circled around the downed blonde, aimlessly spinning a wire with another hook on the metal line. He finally got a look at her face, her lavender eyes screaming bloody murder.

"Oh thank the gods..." Junior lowered his RPG and relaxed behind the DJ counter. He had finally shut off the music and the light show. His gaze slowly centered on Blondie, with a devilish smirk of pride. "Now we can get rid of her."

Junior begun his way down the steps, his RPG relaxed on his shoulder. The men still moving every once in a while, each of them protecting a leg or arm that may or may not be broken beyond repair. He tried to make his way past the maze of broken glass and spilled drinks without making a right mess of his shoes. He laid his rocket launcher on the bar, picked up a bottle from behind it, and took a swig from it. Hei Hei made his way to the wall were Miltia and Melanie were laying up against and passed the bottle.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I told you to get rid of the chick." He held a proud look on his face. "She caused enough trouble already."

"Why?" Junior's smile flipped into a deep scowl.

"Why what, Frax?"

"Sorry, maybe the better question is, 'what are you going to do to pay me of my service?'" Frax tightened his tie and straightened his shirt before continuing. "I got it done, but not for free."

"I think you owed me enough, Fraxinus. Let us consider the fact that you have been nothing but a thorn in my side ever since you came to this city."

"A thorn? I'm hurt, Junior. You wouldn't have made it any farther from a certain 'senior' if I hadn't given you some good advice."

"Yes, I'm so glad that you got him jailed for life! I am so dustdamn glad that you took time from your 'valuable' life to become my mentor! And I am so dustdamn ecstatic that you constantly take my top-shelf liquor and drink until you're passed out!"

"Gotta get drunk somehow, I've-"

"You've lived too long. For some reason, I think that is not a reason to rob me!" Junior

was positively furious at the moment. Fraxinus understood all his points but couldn't really pull up any level of guilt. He was fairly certain that this man wouldn't be the top dog of this area of Vale without him. He got rid of competition by turning them in to the police, found material for blackmail, and got rid of that one gal that was fishing for cash by pretending to be actually interested. Frax kept him up on top, and not one time was he grateful. Junior always found something to criticize.

_"They think I'm workin' for the city, you idiot!"_

_Or_

_"Why in brother's name would I blackmail the headmaster of Beacon!?"_

_Or_

_"She's my dustdamn mother!"_

Honestly, all of the jobs were hard to complete, but it was from the bottom of Frax's non-beating heart. Especially that mother of his, shivers went down Frax's spine when he thought of that cold-hearted bi-.

"Guys! Don't fight over little 'ole me! I don't want a breakup on my conscience." Junior indignantly sputtered in a fit of anger. His face reaching the same tone of his crimson tie.

"Eh, tried the whole 'guy' thing, didn't suit me." Frax took satisfaction that the blonde tied up could still joke around. He's met too many that take things so seriously.

"You constantly take the situation as a joke! Never once do you ever think about what you're doing? Brothers!" Junior was walking back to the broken bar, where he left his weapon. If steam could pour out of his ears, he would be a whistling teapot. "How the Grimm do you survive every time!"

"Hey, I got a solid build. I can't stay down."

"I tried to get rid of you, but I guess Roman couldn't take out a simple nuisance with his skill. What monster does not die to a fire dust shell to the-ARGHHHH!" Junior tirade was cut abruptly by a sudden aura hook attaching to his forehead, and pumping him with the power of ten dust powered cattle prods. His muscles involuntarily spasmed and contracted. His jaw locked up and whatever noise he made was muffled by spit and teeth. He landed on his knees before unceremoniously dropping to the ground. Slight twitches still moved his unconscious body.

"I knew it," Frax watched the smoke rise from the hair that burned on his head, "I dustdamn knew it. Set me up." He was desperate for a job, an influx of cash. He may have taken a lead from Junior without thinking twice about it. Some would call him too trusting, especially for what kind of business he's put himself in. That may have been because of his good nature, or maybe his elder wisdom. Most likely however he knew that it went south, he wasn't going to die anytime soon, so there wasn't any reason to be trepid in his dealings.

"Wow, just wow." The blonde had stopped her struggling to watch the club owner drop to the floor. "Now that... is a shocking revelation."

"You don't spout off puns constantly, do ya Blondie?"

"You know woodman, I'm not just blonde."

"Right, you're also a club wrecker, terrible joke maker, and a neck breaker." Frax turned back to her, she stopped prying herself free and has tried to reach a dignified and relaxed position. If her kneeling, static hero landing was any evidence, it was likely as uncomfortable as sleeping on a bar stool.

"So, not to be annoying or anything, but can you be a nice guy, that you so obviously are, and unhook me." Her words turned bitter and strained near the end. She was trying to hold back the anger that was threatening to spill. Even her eyes themselves have been struggling to keep any semblance of their calm lavender as a crimson red seeped in.

"I don't know," Frax paused for a couple seconds, with his finger tapping his chin in thought, "Miltia! Melanie! Are you guys still up for tonight!?" Frax shouted that to the side of the club that had both of the twins last he saw them. The seconds ticked by as an awkward silence followed.

"You seriously ask that," Miltia paused to finish a coughing fit, "after you electrocute Junior!"

"That isn't a-"

"Go eat some-" "Grimmshit, you necro!" Frax turned to the restrained blonde with his hands held up in a shrug.

"You are also a night ruiner as well, Blondie." Frax came up to her, Vivente Vite configured with it's longest harpoon, (which was more a bladed whip at the moment,) and simply swiped it across her face and neck. The scare did its thing and the blonde was unharmed but the large mane of golden blonde hair lost an inch or two on the right side. The hair fell slowly to the ground, and all Frax could do was smirk. The blonde lost her strained smile, and her eyes widened in shock. "Now, once I deal with you, you will be going away for a very long, long time."

Absolutely a lie, he wished he had that much standing with the Vale Police Department. Them, as well as many others, were ready to put him on the streets, in a jail cell, or (always unsuccessfully mind you,) six feet under. They were so uptight compared to their corrupted counterparts in Mistral or the almost non-existent Vacouan police forces. Although the VPD was nowhere near to the military state that was Atlas, they were all about their civilian safety within city walls. In actuality, he would leave the blonde trapped and call on Junior's scroll for the police. Why wouldn't he handle the situation himself? It wasn't because he was being kind, that's for sure.

"Now, I need to make a call. Be sure to not to go anywhere." Frax made his way past the goons on the floor. They were, of course, shocked stiff. Frax could say he had an intimidating presence at times. He felt the temperature rise as he found newfound pride. His body was finally felt alive, as he actively tried to take normal breaths and let his heartbeat a couple of times. In fact, Frax didn't think that he ever got this hot. Something was slightly off. He felt a bead of sweat at the back of his neck, a side effect of his body actually feeling good for once and one other thing. Frax turned around and audibly gulped.

"You had to mess with my hair, Woodman," the blonde snickered cruelly, "You had to ruin it." Frax felt the color drain again from his skin as the chick before he was literally set alight. The golden hair was burning with a stack of flames that reached the ceiling. The fire licked all the way down both arms and upper half of her body. The final nail in Frax's new coffin was her eyes, a bloody crimson red, that screamed simultaneously pure rage and bloody murder. Even the photo the chick had didn't hold a candle to the unbridled aura of intimidation that Frax now felt. For once in over thirty years, Frax was afraid for his... life.

Frax couldn't ponder how to save the situation when the blonde flexed both arms and started to rip the harpoons from the floor. The tile cracked and groaned, the wires began to fray, and the hooks struggled to keep hold. The cables cracked the air with an audible snap and splayed across the floor. She grabbed each harpoon and aura hook and detached them by sheer force. All with one hand each. She held her arms up in a boxing stance, flames blasting off her knuckles like blowtorches.

"You, Woodman, are going to be ash!" Frax stopped his heart and let out one final breath.

"Grimmshit." After aiming a grappling hook towards the left corner above the club, he let loose a length of cable. In the time it took for the hook to reach the ceiling, two shotgun blasts drew Frax's attention again. He was just in time to see Blondie pulling back a fist aimed at his face while flying across the battlefield from her weapon's own recoil. He never activated his line's retraction so fast as he felt his arm being nearly pulled from his socket as he tried to dodge the punch. Frax was barely able to escape as he felt the concussive blast of a shotgun against his ear. The vambrace powered up and propelled Frax across the club floor and up within a foot of the ceiling. He took a second to catch the cross beams with his free hand and dangled above.

"AAAGH!" Frax immediately unhooked and rehooked across the room as the blonde bomber launched from the floor. He swung across the room like a swing when he heard the blonde crash into the ceiling with enough force to make him shiver. He quickly attached a hook to his position and connected it to the left column above the DJ table. His vambraces deployed a wheel that could roll across. The cable quickly pulled taught and allowed Frax to repel down thanks to the wheeled attachment. Not just a moment later the fireball of a teen came crashing behind him as he tried to put as much distance as possible before pulling his next stunt.

"Stop running Woodman! You're only delaying the-" The boxer stopped her anger induced taunt when an aura hook attached to her sternum. The resulting pull of the cable pried the blonde from her position hanging to the cross beams on the ceiling. Frax pulled with everything he had to bring the blonde careening to the floor. He dropped from his line early and quickly attached another aura hook to her back between her shoulder blades as she was still below him. He immediately went to overload Vivente Vite's power source and pump as much juice as he could with both vambraces at the same time. He felt both overheat from the strain and the air electrified. The yellow arcs of electricity were visible on the blonde as her aura fought the onslaught of power.

The private eye felt only little relief as the blonde simply refused to fall flat to the ground. She only came to her hands and knees, and not because her muscles were locked up, but because of sheer willpower. He could only leave them powered for so long until he had to shut them off. He could feel the vambraces trying their hardest to burn his arms as the heat radiated off the dust generators. Vivente Vite was dead weight on his arms at the moment. The last thing he could do was replace the line with two long blade-like harpoons attached to four feet of cable each. His only thing that was remotely close-ranged, and he really didn't know anything that would put down a powerhouse like that. His electrocution was his own way bring the big and burly, and that didn't work.

The chick gritted her teeth and brought herself to one knee. Frax knew her aura must have been hit to at least half-way at a minimum. That didn't stop her from aiming a gauntlet at him and firing a shotgun slug into his thigh. Frax couldn't react in time and felt the slug rip through muscle and skin. He had to stop himself from using his aura to block the shot rather than heal it. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, especially any girl, that his aura was lacking in size. Aura size didn't affect semblance strength, but he would be in pain if he ran out. He had only lost all his aura once and almost rotted on the spot if he hadn't been tossed in a frozen river not a second later. Safe to say, he used his aura quite differently than the blonde, who is probably literally burning her own soul to reach the strength she can.

Frax found himself brought to the same kneeling position as the blonde. Frax's eyes didn't convey any pain and in actuality, he didn't feel anything but a sting. His muscles in that leg were not working to their full strength, however. Once the blonde boxer began to tower over him, her fires no longer burning but her eyes still conveying the red rampage she was on. Frax felt there was only one option left. He really hated doing it, it was a cheap ploy, but he knew he wasn't going to win unless she let him play the long game. The look in her eyes adamantly denied that.

"Blondie, you really punch like a girl." Frax took several strained breaths, and let his heart begin pumping blood once again. '_Time for a show.'_

"Name's Yang, Woodman, and this punch," She gestured to her fist and pulled it back, "is going to get people to yell timber!" She let loose a fiery punch that could only be described as deadly. People with aura would most likely survive such a punch. They wouldn't get up for a day, and even then with a concussion and a splitting headache, but they would survive. Civilians, however, would never come close. They would most likely have their heads punched cleaned off.

The haymaker could be felt across the world, each goon in the bar, both of the twins, and even the brothers of creation and destruction themselves all winced when the combination of fist, flame, and metal connected with the left side of Fraxinus's face. His cheek compounded and his jaw snapped. His whole head followed the punch, and Frax intentionally let his muscles loose. His neck buckled and twisted, with his whole head turning forty-five degrees... ninety degrees... one hundred and eighty degrees... and a final neck crunching two hundred and thirty degrees. His back met the floor, and weirdly his face as well. Bones were visibly disfigured, and a splattering of blood coated the ground, Frax's neck, his face, and the golden gauntlet of the teenager. Frax made a show of gurgling noises before ceasing all movement. It wasn't too hard because, once again, he was without feeling anywhere below his neck. He let the blood drain from his wounds, just enough to show damage.

"That's what you get Wood- wait... what?" Frax couldn't see what was happening since he was facing the floor, but he knew that the blonde was disappointed that the fight ended so soon. She seemed to like that kind of chick.

"Oh... oh gods," the Blonde took a shaky breath, "Y-you had an aura... y-you... oh gods." Frax thought he could hear the blonde take several steps towards his body then stop. The private eye was slightly puzzled. She was the type of violent person who has killed before, right? She choked a gasp and started mumbling to herself. Frax couldn't hear a word she said, it was far softer than anything she had ever said before. Frax suddenly felt a finger slightly prod his neck, he made sure to stay playing dead. The blonde took several quick steps away.

"I'm s-sor-" She choked on, Frax now realized what it was, a sob. That was the last word she spoke before she ran out of the club. The only sound was of a panicked teenager.

'_Now she made me feel bad. dust dammit.' _Frax rolled his eyes, that chick was fighting in the wrong place expecting them to all survive a punch like that. Well, any without aura wouldn't try to fight her in the first place. Frax absentmindedly clicked his tongue, he really didn't feel as good as he normally did. It wasn't the twisted neck and the slug in his leg giving him any pain.

"You are such a pathetic waste of space-" "-aren't you Frax." Now the twins came to rub salt in the wound. The fact he couldn't talk back to them with his throat mangled really made this whole lot worse. "Now Miltia wants to stomp on the back of your skull with her heels. To be honest, I am going to let her like the good sister I am."

"Thanks, sis, I could always count on you."

"Your welcome! Now, Frax any last words? Ha! I'm kidding! You already had them. They were as follows."

"Are you girls-" "Still up for tonight?"

"And Frax," They spoke in perfect unison, "I think you will regret saying those words when you're stuck six feet under." The last thing Fraxinus Lacquer heard was a squelch of the blade entering his skull. There was no more light, no more anything, just him and one final thought.

'_Anyone else before I blackout? No? Well then...'_

* * *

There are only a few people in each of the four havens of the world, that being Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral, that knew how much punishment that Frax could really take. Those people being the city's police department's official morgue dieners and coroners. What a diener does is prepare a body for an autopsy, which a coroner examines further. Of course, they would be the first to realize how not dead Frax truly is. He has a unique relationship with them, especially when they first have him wake up on the autopsy table.

The official coroner of the Vale PD was a fairly old man named Dr. Michael Close. A kind gentleman who wouldn't hurt a fly, unless that fly was Frax scaring the bejeezus out of him constantly. Dr. Close couldn't deny that he found Mr. Lacquer as a subject quite extraordinary, able to study causes of death with the patient giving an accurate retelling was a dream come true. The worst part of it, however, was when he shows up in a body bag and the good doctor had no idea when the idiot would wake up.

BANG BANG BANG

Dr. Close spilled his hot mug of coffee on his hands and lap when a loud banging emanated from the freezing room. Dr. Close inwardly sighed, put his mug on the office desk, and pulled his keys from his pocket. He took it to slow out into the barely lit hallway, he wasn't any hurry to get him out just yet. He spilled his good coffee, none of the black water they had upstairs.

He first unlocked the freezer entrance and lifted the heavy door handle. He flicked on the bright overhead lights and walked slowly across the linoleum floor. Around the autopsy table and pass his tools of the trade, he reached a wall of body lockers. Counting three from the left and one up, he then pulled out his keys.

"Michael! It's freezing in here, come on!" Dr. Close took a second to pause, a small smile promptly came to his face.

"What's the magic word?"

"Eat Grimmshit." The coroner chuckled before putting the key into the lock. He pried the handle open and the kicked open. He pulled out the tray and saw the grey body bag on top. It shuffled on the table with the subtle movement of the undead PI inside. The doctor unzipped the bag to reveal a naked, pale, and frosty Fraxinus Lacquer. Frax blinked owlishly in the harsh light and sat up with frailty. He scanned the room before settling on the coroner with a polite smile on his face.

"Wow, that chick had a punch," Frax scoffed before rubbing his own neck tenderly, "Nice stitch work by the way."

"Huntsman? That neck was broken beyond all recognition unless you fell doing your tightrope walker impression." The coroner admired his stitches, they were not the quality of a surgeon's but they got the job done. Frax's body would do the rest itself anyways.

"Not even, the blonde wasn't old enough to drink, let alone old enough to be a huntress. But she still had quite an arm on her," Frax mentioned that last bit quietly as he felt the rest of his body, starting with the bullet wound on his thigh, pass the old, long belly scar across his stomach, and the interlocking stitches around his neck.

The doctor nodded in agreement, even he had to deal with the many types of aura based combat in cities. Everyone died seemingly in more impossible ways, from weapons of every type and one or two semblances in his past. The two talked more specifically about what kind of damage occurred so Dr. Close could record and monitor the data. The coroner did find one thing in the investigator's storytelling that caught his ear.

"So, what are you going to do now? I remember you five weeks ago, you were really glad to get back with Junior." Frax fell silent after that, before surprising Dr. Close by bowing his head down in defeat.

"I don't know, the last place who doesn't have anyone out to get me specifically is Vacuo. Even that's a lost cause since that bandit wasteland has everyone getting everyone else. I really should make more of an effort to not get in with the wrong crowd. It's not like some random teenager could best me in fight anyways."

"Is that such a problem? Maybe you should settle down or something."

"I was settled in my first life. I ain't doing that again. Either way, I can't get anything to really go my way since everyone just guts me or shoots me before I 'die' and run away."

"Alright, well, how about you do something about that. You went to Atlas Academy no less than thirty years ago, why not go get huntsman training again?"

"Atlas is an absolute no, that place was a military compound that ruined a perfectly good year." Frax looked around the facility absentmindedly until something outside the window caught his eye. A clock tower, it was far in the distance, outside the walls of Vale itself, but could be still seen by every citizen. A literal Beacon of hope to vanquish the tide of Grimm. There were only a few weeks before what Frax thought was the academy's entrance initiation. The huntsman academy was a lot more free than that of Atlas, he was sure. Perhaps, most convincing of all, it was the fact that he had some not so flattering budget portfolios of the school headmaster's spending habits. Fraxinus was sure that the Vale council would like to know why their leader against the Grimm was spending over ten percent of the budget on imported Mistralian coffee.

"I think a certain headmaster would be inclined to allow me into their academy, Dr. Close. Because Fraxinus Lacquer, private eye extraordinaire, will survive on his own terms."

"At least put some clothes on first... "


End file.
